Depending on what position you play on offense, Monday morning was either a great day or a bad day

Phil Jurkovec wasn’t happy with his performance, while head coach Jeff Hafley and running back Travis Levy both spoke highly of how the running game fared in the first scrimmage of camp. Defensively, the team continues to fly under the radar and are starting to get thin up front after season ending injury.

With kick off against Colgate two weeks from this Saturday, it’s obviously better to work out the kinks now, but the Eagles know things need to get a lot better in a hurry or all the expectations heaped on the team both locally and nationally will turn into a bunch of “overrated” talk very quickly.

Here’s what stood out from Monday’s post-practice media availability:

HAFLEY

(on Monday’s scrimmage)

“We need to get a lot better, we’re not ready to play a game right now. I just told them that out there. We did a lot of really good things in the scrimmage, but we did a lot of things that would have beat ourselves no matter who we lined up against. Before we beat anybody, you’ve got to get to the point where you don’t beat yourself and we’re not there yet.

“Whether it’s penalties, whether it’s MA’s (missed assignments), whether it’s guys not being precise enough…we’ve thrown a lot at them schematically and now we have to kind of hone back in. These next two weeks are going to be really important.”

(on what he’s seen from Kobay White so far)

“I think he’s just going to get stronger and stronger as he gets his legs underneath him and as he gets his confidence, which is probably the biggest thing for him. When you don’t play football for a long time and have an injury like he did , you’ve just got to learn to trust it and let it loose. I think you’re starting to see him do that. He’s playing well and I’m excited to see where he can progress in the next two weeks and how far we can take it.”

(on graduate student Chibueze Onwuka being out for the year with a torn Achilles)

“Sadly, he probably had the best offseason he’s ever had. He became a leader for us and was playing at a really high level, probably would’ve started for us…he tore his Achilies, just kind of a freak deal. It’s sad but it happens in football. He had his surgery last week and he’s on the road to recovery but he’ll be out for the season.”


KOBAY WHITE

(on the injury and comeback)

“It was tough at first because I really din’t know what happened with my knee. After a couple weeks I found out I tore my ACL and at that moment I just sat down with coach Haf and he said he would bring me back, so I just started preparing for the following season. I had a bunch of ups and downs throughout the process…the hardest part is when you have those good days where you feel really good and then you have those bad days. You’ve got to keep a good mindset the whole time. It’s really about mindset and just making sure you’re recovering well, eating well, stay hydrated.

(on if he’s thought about what it will be like in a full Alumni Stadium)

“I think we’re all excited. Camp’s been going well, we’ve just been going up against each other…we’re taking it one day at a time but I’d be lying if I said we weren’t excited to finally have some fans in the stadium.”


JOSH DeBERRY

(on the defense not getting much love nationally)

“We’ve got a great offense coming back so there should be a lot of hype around them, but there’s not too much hype around us which is good. You know, we always want to be the underdogs. There’s a lot you should know about us. We have a very talented group, way more talented than people give us credit for.

“We do a good job of attacking the ball, playing with a tenacious effort every game and we’re coming out to show something this year.”


TRAVIS LEVY

(on how comfortable the running backs are running behind such an experienced O-line)

“Very comfortable. I know the guys upfront are going to get their blocks, get their jobs done and that’s going to make it a lot easier to run the ball. That’s what I’m really excited for, those big guys upfront just dominating game in and game out. It’s going to be a great year upfront.”

(on possibly being a three-down back)

“I’ve probably got to get some more conditioning in, playing all those downs and special teams, but I’m ready for the load, I’m ready for everything and I’m just trying to do anything to help the team win. If that’s being a three-down back and that’s my opportunity to help the team win then that’s what I plan on doing.”


PHIL JURKOVEC

(on how he thought he played in Monday’s scrimmage)

“Badly. I’m just not playing well enough. Not completing the ball and if I play like this we’re not going to win so I have to play better.”

(on getting mistakes out of the way now as opposed to in the regular season)

“It’s good. We’ve shown a lot of progress in terms of running the ball. The O-line played really well, the backs are seeing it well and making good cuts, so we’re all pleased with how we’re running the ball and it’s good that we have a lot of time still, but it’s getting down there so we need to pick it up here.”